Curse of Salt and Sand

The Kingdom Below #0.5

by Maggie White

People of the sea.
Lords of the land.
And a love powerful enough to unite them both.
Or divide them forever.

Devina came to Adrial to save her people from the powerful kingdom’s wrath. But when she arrives, there is more at stake than she could’ve ever imagined. Feuding brothers, a man designed by the Gods for her, and a curse that would shape the future of a world.

Together they will spark a war that will span generations and garner the passions of men and Gods alike.

In a land where magic is dying and vengeful royalty holds ultimate power, would love ever be enough?

Genres: Fantasy

127 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 8, 2023

About the author

Maggie White is a paranormal and fantasy romance author from Kansas. Her books focus on myths and monsters and what happens when characters let love in. If she’s not writing you can find her with her family, cooking something delicious or dreaming up her next great love story.

Reviews

[Shell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I genuinely liked this little prequel and would be interested to see where the upcoming series goes.

But this needs an editor. There were too many grammatical issues, inconsistencies with details of the story, and even inconsistencies with the spelling of names and places. This made reading the story kind of annoying, which is a real shame. It felt like this was a story that was only edited by the author and really needed a fresh set of eyes to look over it.

I’m hoping this was just an issue with my kindle and not the actual writing itself, but unfortunately I can only provide a review on what I read. 😕

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful prequel. A well written tale of fated mates, magic, power, betrayal, love and so much more. It’s exciting, it’s intriguing and it has some fantastic characters and awesome world building that draws you into the story and holds on tight.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Curse and Salt and Sand is the prequel to the Kingdom Below Series. This was a fairly short read. I am glad to have had the opportunity, because I now have an idea of where the series is possibly headed. This story has several POVs, and so it’s fairly jumpy as the story progresses. I enjoyed the story and it was very interesting. We follow our FMC, Devina comes to Adrial to save her people from the Kingdoms's powerful wrath. When she arrives, she soon realizes that there is more at stake. Feuding brothers, a man designed by the Gods for her, and a curse that would shape the future of the world. This book has magical powers and elements, fated mates, betrayal, and much more. I enjoyed the growth in the storyline between characters. I think that the world building could use a little bit more detail, but nothing that wasn’t shy of good. Not only that, but I think that the premise is good, and it just needs a bit of buffering. I think it is very promising and has tons of potential. For being a shorter story, it removed a lot of details that could’ve helped pieced parts of the missing gaps. Overall, I am still very compelled to see where the series actually goes. 

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had posted this book on my Instagram yesterday because I had noted that there were errors in spelling, missing words and extra words in most sentences I didn’t think I’d be able to finish it because it was making my brain hurt. Well, I pushed through and was able to finish it. I give it a 3 ⭐️ out of 5, I would have given it more stars but the lack of editing and revisions make it hard for me to do so.
The story of fated mated, betrayal and lust are what kept me reading. I’m hoping that the books that follow are carefully edited because I’d like to read on and finish the series.

[Ven · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5

A solid novella that has me curious about the world and raises a number of interesting questions that I would like to read more about. The 'fated mates' trope is one that I tend not to be a massive fan of but it works well enough here.

This did need an editing pass just to tidy up the text in couple of places due to a not insignificant number of typos', however i did like the writing style a fair bit.

Overall a solid prequel that has done a solid job of piquing my interest in the series.

[Tabitha Van Til · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the story itself was really good. It was very easy for me to fall in love (or hate) with the characters.

That being said, this book needed A LOT of proofreading. There were places when you could tell that the author had missed POV changes, grammar and spelling errors, and even one point where Devina was referred to as "that American princess".

Overall, I really enjoyed the story but the editing issues kind of took me out of it at really key points.

[Noemi Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waring and manipulating Gods. Familial tensions. Fated mates (insta-love). Curses and magic.

The story, world, and premise are great. I do think a bit more editing and polishing would make it better. There were a few gaps, missing transitions, and spelling errors, but the story itself and the world srtting were very interesting.

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok read. The author seemed to keep slipping from first to third person which was disconcerting and kept pulling out of the story. Also the spelling mistakes where numerous and could have read done with more editing as some sentences needed to be read a few time to understand what the author was trying to say.

[Ladie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was interesting, and I found the characters nice, but this book needs to go through an editor several times. There were lots of typos, as well as random switches from 1st Person to 3rd??? It was also very short. I felt like there was a lot of ‘this happened and then this happened and then this happened’, but I did find the story involved interesting.

[Dee Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and intriguing tale of Gods, chosen ones, fated mates, magical powers, true love, betrayal, and new beginnings with a HEA.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Shannon📚 from BookTok · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compelling and interesting story. I enjoyed this prequel and look forward to reading the series, however, it does need an editor. There were many grammatical errors. I read sentences multiple times. It’s a fast and enjoyable read.

[Erin Keavany · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a shame I was very excited to read this, and it did have an interesting storyline /concept. However the many grammatical errors and jumps from different POVS made it very frustrating to read and therefore decreased my interest of the book.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story, full of amazing imagery and a great story line.
A few quite unexpected turns in the story but I loved watching the heartless kings growth and transformation throughout.

Definitely a great read.

[Shae · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. This book needs an editor! The cover alone has two errors. That is one of the most vital parts of a book! I couldn’t continue because the errors were too distracting and confusing. I hate that I couldn’t emerge myself into the story because of it.

[Jessica Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was a great idea but the amount of grammatical errors outweighs the story. It's as if no one read it to edit it and fix the mistakes. Just with the amount of errors I will not buy the next book. This just seems like a rough draft of a book. The story was nice though.

[Kristenallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good prequel. At the half way point my mouth dropped with what was happening and I couldn’t put the book down. Now I’m ready for more

[Zaylan Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The twist! I can’t wait to see where this goes. If I remember right this was an opening for a series! 😍

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooked me and kept me drawn in! Amazing prequel to help introduce us into the next series.

[Kelsie Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

great story line, horrible typos/grammar.

[Leah Hortin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had potential but so many grammatical errors. Desperately needing an editor.

[Kayla Rector · Rating 2 out of 5]

way too smutty for me and has some grammar issues but other than that it was a good read

[Lyndsey Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the ideas around this story. It’s has a great wam of an ending that leaving you wanting more of the story!

Fated mates, meddling gods, feuding brothers, arranged marriages are all part of the tropes!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, entertaining read with gods, magic, love and betrayal between brothers.

There were a few instances where it would switch from first person to third randomly, but overall I’d love to read if the story continues.